Game Changer: How Two Coaches Used Sports to Break the Cycle of Violence
April 15, 2025
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In Northern Ireland, sectarian divisions still shape much of daily life. From segregated schools to divided neighborhoods, children inherit the conflicts of the past before they even fully understand them. In response to incidents of hate crimes and riots, PP-NI collaborated with the Policing and Community Safety Partnerships (PCSP) in Belfast to deliver their ASB Reactive Project. Recognising the need for practical, community-driven solutions, PCSP identified local issues and invited PP-NI to join their efforts. Together, they visited communities where unrest was brewing, offering an alternative to violence—sports.
This project was led by Marc Wilmot and Stu Bell from PeacePlayers, who made the daily trip to a park in North Belfast where Protestant and Catholic children and teens often got into fights with each other, throwing stones and lighting garbage cans on fire. Marc and Stu stepped in—not with authority, but with footballs and rugby balls.
At first, the kids were skeptical, even hostile. “The Catholic kids were meeting at one side of the park, and then the protestant kids met at the other side, and then they’d come down [towards each other]. I was fairly used to this kind of antisocial behavior in previous jobs. But these kids were properly going for it and throwing stuff at each other. And there was a park beside it, and there were young families in the park, and it was quite scary, to be fair,” Stu shares.
By the third week, the rival groups weren’t just tolerating each other—they were playing on the same teams. “We ended up having a football match with the kids, and that was taking them away from a lot of the antisocial behavior,” shares Marc.
Marc understands this world. Growing up in a similar interface area, he saw how easily kids got pulled into cycles of aggression. He might have been one of them—had it not been for PeacePlayers Northern Ireland. “I’m very fortunate I was part of a lot of programs, and in particular PeacePlayers, because it changed my perception.” Now, as a coach and project coordinator, he works to break that cycle.
PeacePlayers isn’t just about sport; it’s about changing mindsets. For these kids, violence feels normal. “Growing up and watching these bonfires with all these flags burning—that was normal to me,” Marc recalls. “It took me going to PeacePlayers to realize, ‘Whoa, this is actually something that’s really weird.’” By showing up consistently and creating a safe, structured space, Marc and Stu helped these kids challenge the divisions they inherited.
For Marc, this experience was further proof of how much work is left to do, but how much of an opportunity for change exists. “Going out and interacting with these kids made me realize that they are just who I was when I was younger. So, when I was in there, I was like, ‘Well, I could probably really make a difference here.’”
